Editing was only one of the problems with BV. It's an impeccably made film, but the major & massive flaw is that the subject matter and its presentation (extensive combination of plot threads - politics, business, romance, quest story - that zoom by very, very fast and yet last 2.5 hours) were never going to appeal to or connect with the masses. He claimed that he made a "masala" movie, but it had no masala...if anything, the movie was artsy as hell and even difficult to follow at times. Who was gonna watch that?
The only way a movie with a premise like it could've been successful is: (1) If it was made on 20% of actual budget, thus allowing decent chance of recovery or (2) If the plot was cut into half so that they either got rid of the politics/business storyline or the romance storyline to allow time and ingenuity for good, impactful development of one aspect that would've connected with people.
Anurag tried to sell what he loves about cinema in very expensive packaging to an audience that does not necessary and obviously love the same things. You can't edit that.
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